


Touch

by Tententendo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alien Culture, Alien Tendou Satori, Alternate Universe - Aliens, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Astronaut Ushijima Wakatoshi, Astronauts, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Outer Space, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:35:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24328132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tententendo/pseuds/Tententendo
Summary: Wakatoshi wakes up from what should have been two months in status following a stray meteor taking out the communications relay of his ship during an observational mission. Either something went horribly wrong or (more likely) he's just dreaming. But could ten years have really passed? Was earth really destroyed while he was sleeping? And is he really off into unknown galaxy's on an adventure with a Japanese speaking, mind reading alien he found napping in the med bay? The answer is yes, and Wakatoshi doesn't have much of a choice to get used to it. Not that he entirely minds with his new four armed companion and his.... unusual quirks.Tendou week 2020 day 5 - Sci-fi AU
Relationships: Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi
Comments: 12
Kudos: 29
Collections: TendouWeek2020





	1. Yes it's clearly Japanese

**Author's Note:**

> I have been raving about my little alien baby Tendou for MONTHS now and I'm so happy to finally be able to post this! This is going to be a bit heavy on the angst (HAHA who'd have thought??..... no one?... yeah me neither) and a lil slow at first but it will pick up.
> 
> Beta'd by Catastra_fay! Just like Tawnya who beta'd my hearing impaired tendou fic, she's an absolute delight and her fics are fantastic! <3 Please check her out!
> 
> I'm still writing this so updates will be sporadic but I have so much energy for this AU, I really can't wait to come back to it ^0^ I'll have some proper art for it hopefully in the next chapter but I have a mountain of things to do so will see.

The door to the stasis pod opened with the quiet sound of metal gliding along metal. Ushijima let out a sigh, bleary eyes blinking against the lights flickering in the room and making it impossible to see anything. A persistent alarm wailing like a banshee mixed with the occasional spark of electricity was not a good thing to wake up from after being in the induced sleep for so long. He stretches, feeling stiff and uncoordinated after being in stasis for several weeks, mind too groggy at present to think of anything but wanting the irksome alarm to _stop_. With all the grace of a new born giraffe, he stumbled out of the pod, not sure if it was a relief or not to feel the pull of gravity as he stood. It took him several moments to stretch out the stiffness in his muscles and joints. He cracked his neck and tried to shake the fog from his mind.

Unfortunately, he and his team were still aboard the ship, not a soul in sight in ways of a rescue and recovery team. The station had been hit by rogue meteor, which sent the ship off its course with irreparable damage to the communications relay.The Soyuz ships, their only escape off the station, had been crippled in the incident as well. The team agreed to put themselves into stasis for a month to save on rations in hope someone back from ground comms would realize they weren’t receiving any communication and send someone to check on them. Apparently they had not.

Ushijima frowned, swiping a finger through the thin layer of dust that had accumulated on the surface of a hand rail. Strange, a month wasn't long enough for the limited dust on the ship to settle that much, especially without gravity. He cast a look back at the other stasis pods, unsure of why he was the only one that had woken up, and something in his stomach churned.

Above the pods, the status indicators flashed red and made the reason for the alarm clear.Wakatoshi studied his teammates within for a second before looking away, an icy chill washing over him. One of the pods was open, the inhabitant absent, but the other eight pods all flashed red, indicating the person within was no longer alive. He felt relieved at least one other had survived, however he didn't have the time or clarity of mind to allow a reaction for the fate of crew mates. He navigated his way through the hallways, some lit, others blinking ominously as he made his way to the control hub. His stomach rumbled uncomfortably as he switched on the main monitoring facility relieved to find it fully functional ~~.~~ The screen powered on, displaying a list of all the ship's primary function failures and sighed. Only the basic life support and power systems were still online but no change in the station's communications relay. Foolish of him to hope it might have just started working again on its own while they were in stasis. A lot of the errors appeared repairable, but nothing that was going to get him back too Earth safely anytime soon.

He pursed his lips at the date stamp. That must certainly be broken, but he could live without knowing the actual date. Compiling a list of priorities, he made his way to the bridge and more importantly, the galley. Walking through the narrow hallways, it dawned on him that something was seriously off. Now a little more awake, something didn't make sense. His stasis addled mind was taking its time but he stopped, looking around with a dawning of realization. Then he was running, as much as he could run through a constriction designed for people to pull themselves through in _zero gravity_ _._

When he reached the bridge, he flung himself across the room, straight for the large window that gave a view of the outside of the ship. The sight that greeted him wiped any other thoughts from his head.

This had to be a nightmare, a fictional horror induced by stasis. What he was looking at was incomprehensible. Because there was no possibility the broken, lifeless, fractured rock below was Earth. _This couldn't be real_. He stumbled back, tripping over a wayward metal container. The dull ache that shot up his back as he fell on his tailbone or the sharp sting of his palm splitting against a sharp corner should have triggered another dream or woke him, but it didn't. The floating chunks of rock exposing the embering, dying core of the planet beyond the thick pane of glass didn't disappear. Dust tickled his palm and the definite pull of gravity that shouldn't be held him too the floor like he were back on earth.

_What's going on._

A cold sweat crept over him as everything in his groggy mind tried to make sense of what he was seeing but remained completely unable to accept it.

 _This... this can't be right_.

The throbbing of his palm grabbed his attention and he drew it up to look at it, eyeing the damage and furrowing his brows at the thing that he'd tripped over. The contraption he'd cut himself on didn't look like any of JAXA's tech, its black surface decorated with illuminated blue markings and happily flickering green lights a foreign contrast with the ship's mostly white interior. Ushijima decided his palm took precedence, hoping that this was a dream and that stasis was affecting how dreams, or nightmares, usually worked. Because this had to be a dream. Unidentified tech, gravity, the earth destroyed, the date on the central monitoring system that read ten years since Wakatoshi and his team went into stasus? Unlikely. _Impossible._

A little calmer with his inner rationalization, he went to the galley and took a pre-packaged miso packet from the few supplies left, something to settle the angry gnashing of his stomach, and made his way to the med bay. He awkwardly climbed through the tunnel, switching the lights on as he went. Most of them were even surprisingly functional, a small blessing in the insanity of the situation.

When he arrived at the small medical unit, the first thing to catch his attention is the sound of someone breathing. His pulse began to race as he froze and lingered at the door, reluctant to switch the light on. He recalled the empty pod but, from sleeping in close proximity with the absent astronaut, he knew they usually snored. Loudly. Unless this was an elaborate prank and he was on Earth? Maybe he'd open the doors and find himself in the simulation bay, someone watching over maybe having falling asleep at their desk. Hoping that was the answer, he switched the light on, blinking against the sudden brightness of the room.

The first thing he noticed was a form laying on one of the benches, what looked like a sleeping bag from one of the bedroom chambers cocooned around them. Ushijima kept his distance ~~,~~ studying the bundle as they continue to snooze undisturbed by the harsh fluorescence of the lights. From this angle, he couldn't make out the patient, but the form was far too slender to be his missing teammate as it curled up within the bag that should be far too small for someone of athletic stature to fit in like that.

“Hello?” Wakatoshi called, his voice hesitant with uncertainty. The prone figure payed him no heed. Swallowing, anxiety creating a bitter taste in his mouth, he edged closer. The first thing he realizes about the person within the sleeping bag is that they're a lot bigger than the average person. Curled up inside the quilted fabric, Wakatoshi could make out the silluette of someone probably taller than himself if they were stood upright. He falters in his approach as his eyes fall on something spilling from the open end of the sleeping bag, something grayish purple that twitches every few seconds like it's alive.

_This is definitely a dream._

Wakatoshi no longer questioned if this was a dream or not. Because the long snake-like thing curling over the edge of the bench looked and acted far too much like a tail. Its sinuous form curled in on itself, soft and fleshy looking. It was both fascinating too watch and terribly disturbing.

“Excuse me,” He said, a little more bravely, surprised at how his mind wanted to play on a vague memory from his childhood he hadn't thought of in many years. Now at face level with the person, no, _creature_ , he found the relaxed face of something definitely not human. Pale grayish-purple skin stretches out over sharp humanoid features and two pairs of eyes, one just below the other, which twitched at his voice in unison. The creature's slightly upcurled lips pulled at something like a pout as it stirred. Red hair that's soft looking spills over it's face like it was styled in a spiky up-do but had started to fall in sleep. Overall, it doesn't look incredibly inhuman as far as Wakatoshi considers. In fact, it looks...cute.

“Excuse me,” Wakatoshi said again, a little more persistently, growing annoyed at the dream creature making itself comfortable in the ship's med bay. This time, the figure sprang to life, jolting into an upright position, two pairs of jet black, almost lizard like eyes opening impossibly widely and focusing on him. With a sudden whirlwind of movement, the creature shuffled back, and fumbled with the inside of the sleeping bag. Wakatoshi took a cautious step back. He was about to speak when the creature untangled himself from the sleeping bag and pulled out what unmistakably look like some kind of firearm and pointed not one, but _four_ of the weapons directly at Wakatoshi’s face.

On reflex, he lifted his hands, showing himself to be unarmed and frowned. The creature's mouth opened and an avalanche of words echoed through the room, the strange sounds completely beyond Ushijima's understanding. Definitely not any Earth language he knew of, and he was fluent many. He was fairly certain his mouth couldn't even make quite a few of the sounds coming out of the thing.

“I don't understand,” he clarified, not that he assumed it would be of any help. He left his hands raised, fingers splayed as he took another step back. The creature's eyes widened momentarily and it winced, one of four arms dropping back into the sleeping bag where Wakatoshi could now see the edges of what looked like the ships bandages.

“Perfect, no need for a translator, what are you doing here?” it said, its voice sounding distinctly male, though a little gruff with either agitation or the discomfort of the injury he nursed with one hand. Wakatoshi scowled. This dream alien was quite rude but his demeanor seemed calm and disarming ~~.~~ If he didn't have three guns still leveled at Wakatoshi in his long, slender arms, he wouldn't appear particularly threatening.

“You speak Japanese?” he asked, unsure of what else to say. The creature, or more accurately, alien gave him an exasperated look.

“No this is archaic sacktanian, _clearly_ it's speak Japanese. Why did you sneak up on me? What are you even doing here? I checked this place out and it's just a dying hunk of junk with dead pilots on it,” he responded with a bit of a fluster. Wakatoshi mentally noted that there was definitely an accent there from his home prefecture of Sendai. His mind certainly wasn't particularly creative in its dreamcraft.

“This is a JAXA space station, I believe you are the intruder,” he pointed out, eyes trained on the notably messily placed bandages now visible as the sleeping bag slipped down. “You're hurt.” The alien studied him, four eyes narrowing as he scrutinized the astronaut. They stayed in their stalemate for several seconds until the alien appeared satisfied Wakatoshi was definitely unarmed. It would have been pretty obvious if he was hiding some sort of weapon in his pajamas, and the firearms dropped unceremoniously to the aliens sides.

“Well, guess you have a point there. What are you doing here anyway? You look human but that's crazy. What galaxy are you from? I haven't heard anyone speak Japanese since I was a kid, did you live on earth for a time or something?” The aliens barrage of questions left Wakatoshi a little frazzled. Its mannerism change from hostile to friendly so quick it was almost whiplash inducing. Wakatoshi didn't answer immediately, instead crossing to a cabinet and retrieving some bandages. He turned back to find the alien aiming one of the strange looking pistols at him, head cocked in interest, but it dropped as soon as he saw the bandages in Wakatoshi's hands.

“Okay sorry, can never be sure. So you don't talk much? What's your name and where are you from?” he asked. Wakatoshi sat on the bench opposite and began wrapping his hand neatly, the wound in his palm still throbbing despite most of the bleeding having stopped on its own.

“Ushijima Wakatoshi, JAXA Science officer for this station. Do you need some help with that?” He asked, nodding towards the poorly dressed wound on the alien's side. The alien looked down at it with an oddly endearing pout.

“Wouldn't mind since you're offering. I was never good at this. You can call me Tendou Satori, Satori's my actual name, Tendou the name I used on earth, don't think you could actually pronounce my last name.” _Satori_ _,_ Wakatoshi thought, not as bizarre as it could be. But then again, Wakatoshi didn't really have that much of an imagination. He nodded, waiting for the alien to wiggle out of the sleeping bag and perch on the end of the bench. Now that he wasn't so concealed, Wakatoshi could take full stock of him, and he didn't shy from looking him over.

Tendou was extraordinarily tall, a few inches taller than Ushijima even, who towered above the rest of the crew. He wore a one piece suit that fitted him snugly from neck to wrists and ankles, mostly black with some bright purple patterns decorating the sides of his ribs ~~.~~ His anatomy was different, with two sets of arms, one situated like human arms and the other a little lower, shoulders set further behind. He didn't wear shoes, revealing feet with three claw-like toes and his hands had only three fingers and a thumb that shrank to points at the tips. The messy dressing across his lower abdomen had dark purplish patches staining it, most likely Tendou’s blood. He slid off the bay and crouched down so he was eye level with the aliens stomach.

“How did this happen?” Wakatoshi asked as he peeled away the bandages carefully to inspect the damage. A nasty looking wound greeted his eyes through torn fabric when the wrapping fell away. “Sorry,” he added as Tendou hissed.

“It's fine. My fault. Tried to be smart and take a detour in a dash and crashed into this hunk of junk. Human tech was so old that my ship couldn't pick up on it until a second from impact and I was a little distracted. I lost a hell of a pay cheque because of this floating piece of crap. Should be a few days before STPS deliver the parts to repair my ship so I can get out of here,” Tendou explained with notable distaste in his voice. He seemed to be very talkative, only stopping when fresh dressing settled over the wound. “You never said where you're from. What's JAXA, Wakatoshi? I've heard it somewhere before but I'm drawing a blank here.” Wakatoshi blinked. Tendou's casual demeanor felt almost jarring. It didn't seem reasonable, even for a dream, for him to treating Wakatoshi like a casual friend. An unsettling realization was starting to form in his mind, but he shoved it to the side.

“It's the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and I'm from Japan. What did you mean by old? This station is the height of aerospace technology,” he explained, baffled that someone might call this incredible marvel of the greatest scientific minds of the age a “floating piece of crap”. Tendou's eyes widened momentarily and he threw his head back, loud laughter filling the med bay. Despite Wakatoshi feeling like he was being laughed _at,_ the sound wasn't unpleasant, contagious even. Once the alien recovered from his laughing fit, he raised a narrow red brow at Wakatoshi’s silence. His face morphed from amusement to shock.

“Wait... you're not joking are you?” he asked, leaning as far forward as his injury would allow. Wakatoshi stared into black eyes, round and full of curiosity. Despite them being completely black with no iris or pupil, Wakatoshi found them open, expressive, and oddly captivating. “Are you human?” The question seemed void, unnecessary. Wakatoshi just nodded.

“Yes. From Japan, as I have mentioned.” A purplish hand reached out towards him, curious fingers seeming to want to prod and poke, like he was something rare or precious. A look of wonder crossed Tendou's strange features.

“That's not possible. Are you okay? Did you hit your head or something? Been outside a lil too much and the spacetiation got to ya?” Wakatoshi shook his head, growing tiredof the alien's onslaught of questions.

“Spacetiation?” He queried.

“Space radiation.” Wakatoshi nodded.

“Why is that not possible?” Wakatoshi asked, a bit of frustration creeping into his tone. Tendou gave him a look like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Well.... Don't know what rock you've been living under but earth was destroyed _years_ ago and all its humans with it. Now, what-”

“No. This is not real,” Wakatoshi interrupted curtly, annoyed with the creature. This dream was becoming tiresome and he wasn't sure if he liked his brains manifestation of an alien or not. Tendou was staring at him again, Wakatoshi opting to focus on his task and neatly taped the bandages securely without touching him and sat back on the opposite bench.

“Thanks. Why do you say that?” Tendou asked, an almost childish curiosity dancing in his wide eyes. Wakatoshi saw no reason to be anything other than honest.

“This is a dream. Our communications relay was damaged in a collision and my team and I put ourselves into stasis for a month to preserve supplies until a recovery team is sent out. Ground control would have sent someone up too check on us since they won't have heard from us.” He explains, almost wanting to laugh at how ridiculous this entire scenario was. Tendou made a thoughtful sound, the appendage Wakatoshi had seen poking from under the end of the sleeping bag upon entering the bay visible again, curling out most likely from the base of the aliens spine and lazily tapping against the bench. Wakatoshi _tried_ not too stare but it was hard.

“What year was that?” Tendou asked, the curious lilt in his voice making way for something more apprehensive. Wakatoshi frowned at his use of tense.

“Two thousand twenty-five.” An uncomfortable silence fell between them. Tendou's tail stilled and Wakatoshi looked up to meet the alien's eyes, one pair of them anyway. A slight frown marred his features as he searched Wakatoshi's face until it morphed into one of sympathy that Ushijima certainly didn't like.

“Oh Wakatoshi....” The sadness in his voice unnerved Wakatoshi. A purplish hand reached forward toward Ushijimas's, which rested on his lap and he withdrew it, denial rejecting the attempt at comfort. “I'm so sorry. Earth.... It's nearly twenty thirty-six in earth years. Your stasis pods must have.... I'm sorr-” Wakatoshi had heard enough. He stood without a word and exited the med bay, returning back to the bridge and ignoring the calls of his name. He almost tripped several times in his haste, truly losing his balance once and grunting when his knees hit the floor _hard._ The collision didn't wake him as it should have, as the cut on his palm should have, the sharp throb that shot up his thighs feeling very real, far too real for his liking.

He reached the bridge, coming to a stop in front of the main window and finding the destroyed planet just as it was when he'd first come here. Staggering to the windscreen, now feeling a dizzy sickness rising in his throat as he walked until his nose was within an inch of the glass. This couldn't be real. He tried to silence the part of his brain that wanted to accept that this was indeed real, but he was wholly unable to believe that over ten years had passed while he slept. He almost jumped when he heard Tendou break the silence from somewhere behind him.

“I'm... really sorry. It.... You might be the last human al-”

“Don't.” Wakatoshi didn't want to hear it. Didn't want to know. His team mates where gone. His planet, his _home,_ was gone. His mother and grandmother.... It was too much.

“H-hey....” A cool hand rested on his forearm beneath the comfortable t-shirt he had slept in, and the strangest sensation made goosebumps raise across his arm. For a brief second, Wakatoshi felt a sympathy that wasn't his own. The bizarre feeling made grounded him momentarily and made him turn, looking down at the hand that suddenly snapped back to the owner's side.

“S-sorry. I'm really sorry, this must be a lot to take in.” Tendou appeared to be looking down, avoiding his eyes, though Wakatoshi wasn't entirely sure given that no pupil indicated the direction of his gaze. It was a look of pity and discomfort mixed with shame(?), and he felt panic flare in his chest. He cast another look out the window before turning back too the sheepish alien.

“Excuse my rudeness. I apologize. This is..... I...,” he ran out of words, uncertain of what else to say. If the destruction of Earth and the possibility that he was the last human alive wasn't enough, it dawned on him that he now had nowhere to return to once the supplies ran out, if they were even still edible now. No one was coming to rescue him, to bring him back to Earth. The horrific truth left him feeling sick. As if reading his train of thought, Tendou appeared in front of him in an instant.

“I guess you could tag along with me? I... kinda get it. In a way. And better than staying here until you run out of food. It's going to be another day or two before my delivery turns up but I should be up and running in a few hours once it arrives.” The alien looked oddly hopeful, four eyes wide and practically sparkling. If Wakatoshi wasn't struggling to process his own predicament, he would have found it endearing. He stared blankly for a few moments, unable to think over the proposal as a wave of exhaustion washed over him and he swayed on his feet. The sudden reawakening from ten years in stasis and exertion of so many mental blows being overwhelming.

“You should rest, think about it, want me to get you some food or something? I've got plenty on my ship. Some of it is kinda like human food too. I got a bit of a taste for it while on Earth.” Wakatoshi was actually a little thankful for Tendou's energetic presence. He was hard to ignore but not in an unpleasant way and his almost adolescent energy was grounding, distracting Wakatoshi from his own spiraling thoughts.

“I... should rest first. Thank you. Truly.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ok I didn't realize when I was drafting this but it starts a little slow and idk how to fix the pacing bc I suck haha..... So it's a lil slow doing the world build thing and I'll prolly have to add some tags for mild action/sch-fi violence at some point but nothing to heavy. Still only about 50% done with writing this so updates are going to be sporadic but I love this au far to even entertain the idea of dropping it <3
> 
> (sorry for this unbeta'd mess >.<)

Wakatoshi slept surprisingly well considering all. He feared he would be unable to sleep comfortably in the makeshift bed he made on the floor of his usual sleeping chamber and he can't actually remember his head hitting the rolled up sleeping bag he used as a pillow. When he wakes up, he's almost forgotten about everything that happened the prior day and is definitely confused by a presence pressed up against his back. The confusion is cleared up when he cranes his head to look behind him and found the relaxed face of the ships purple-ish skinned intruder.

Wakatoshi blinked a few times, unsure of if he should be guarded, uncomfortable or just plain confused but settled with perhaps a little endeared as Tendou shuffled a little closer with a content sound. If the alien had any ill intent, he'd have had plenty of time to act on it during the night and Wakatoshi mentally berated himself for being so careless regardless of that fact that he didn't feel like he should be concerned. Ushijima took a moment to watch him sleep, not really having registered the fact that there was an _alien_ on the ship. A loud, exuberant and, so far, friendly one. He let himself stare, really letting it sink in that there was clear evidence that humans are not, or where not, alone in the universe. He pushed that thought away, not ready to really consider the fact that humanity was gone and shifted slightly so he could take stock of the alien a little more.

Tendou, he recalled the name with some difficulty, had changed out of the fitting suit he wore into a shorts and loose tshirt combo with two lots of sleeves for both his arms. Wakatoshi also noted how a slight taunt of the back of his own tshirt suggested the alien was clinging to it. He filed the thought away for later as Tendou stirred, less exuberantly than when Wakatoshi woke him in the med bay the prior day. He shifted a little and the bare skin of Tendou's arm brushed his own, that same odd sensation creeping over his skin but this time a pleasantly content hum buzzed in his mind briefly. That was definitely something he wanted to ask about.

Large eyes screwed up, hands coming up to rub sleep away while his other two arms stretched out. _Cute._ More like the previous day, Tendou jolted to life when his eyes cracked open and spanned too their full size.

“Shit, sorry! I'm... we...” He stammered as he burst into motion, wrangled with the sheet covering him and _fell_ out of the chamber in a whirlwind of too many uncoordinated limbs. Wakatoshi chuckled, not his proudest moment but he couldn't help it. He sat up in the chamber and watched as Tendou ungracefully collected himself and sat cross legged on the floor of the dorm pod, pouting while he rubbed where he fell on and pouting while one hand got lost in his hair. “Sorry, Kamlir are communal sleepers, been a while,” He explained, his cheeks turning a slightly more vivid shade of purple as if he were embarrassed.

“Kamlir?” Wakatoshi asked, much more gracefully shifting out of the blanket and folding it at the foot of the chamber. Tendou followed suit, collecting the sheets that weren't from the space station and folding them tidily in his lap.

“My race, easy too forget you humans don't get far with your dated tech. Did you sleep well?” Wakatoshi was suddenly flooded with curiosity as Tendou busied himself with folding the sheets in his arms. He feared asking too much might be rude and he didn't want to offend the alien so he answered the question.

“Fine. Yourself?”

“Good, best sleep in a while actually.”

“Why do you say that?” Wakatoshi asked, that curiosity burning a little to strongly. Tendou grimaced like he'd said more than he meant too. He shrugged nonchalantly but Wakatoshi wondered if there was more too it or not.

“Uh....Communal sleepers, remember. Anyway! Breakfast? I'll see what I have on my ship. I have something pretty similar to Ramen or Tsukemen? The nice restaurant kind, not instant packet kind. I can't find anything that tastes as good as instant ramen,” He pouted as they made their way through the ship, considerably less energetic than he had been the night before, most likely from residual sleep. Wakatoshi frowned.

“Instant ramen has little nutritional value. Tsukemen sounds good,” He replied with, too tired to offer much more. Tendou seemed happy to fill the silence as they got closer too the air lock. “Where is your ship?” He asked, now occurring too him that Tendou had mentioned his ship multiple times but there was nowhere a possibly large spaceship could be stored on the station. Tendou didn't look back as he picked up some kind of helmet frame and a backpack from a surface just outside the airlock and put them on.

“It's outside docked on one of those wingy-things, I haven't got a spare Airband with me so just wait here, be back in a minute.” Wakatoshi looked him up and down, concerned about the Tendou leaving the station without proper protective gear, let alone an EVA cord.

“Do you not need to wear a protective suit outside?” Tendou stopped awkwardly fiddling with the straps on his backpack once they where securely set in place over his tshirt with a confused look.

“Why would I... wait. Human. Sorry, I keep forgetting. Okay, there aren't many races that can't go outside atleast for a little bit without protective gear. We're made of tougher stuff. Don't worry your pretty little delicate human head about me Wakatoshi! Even if I'm out there for hours, the most I'll get is a radiation headache and a bit of a tan.” True too his word, Tendou left the airlock, Wakatoshi watching through a small window as the backpack burst to life as an impressively powerful booster pack and he disappeared out of sight. Upon return completely unscathed, Wakatoshi couldn't help but be relieved he returned unaffected by the exterior atmosphere. Satori dumped a number of items untidily on the floor including what looked like a microwave sans it's wire and stripped the helmet and booster pack off.

“Okay, good thing my Flash Cook is self charging. I don't suppose you're much good at tidying? My ships a mess and... I'm not exactly tidy. I don't have a spare gravity generator so everything's all floating around back there,” He complained with a pout, gathering the items up and leading the way. Wakatoshi wasn't sure what he wanted to ask about first but settled for:

“Gravity generator?” Tendou nodded.

“Yeah, big black box that's covered in lights in your bridge? This is what I meant about earth tech being dated, gravity generators are like spoons or something, _everyone_ has one! It's a basic necessity and they're a measure a dozen!” Wakatoshi wanted too defend the incredible technological advances of the station and earth but the alien had a point, gravity generators are a thing of fiction as far as earthen tech goes.

“Measure?”

“Space money.”

“Okay,” He offered as he followed Tendou as he trotted through the hallways. They settled for returning too the dorm chambers, the station not really having a lounge of any description and Tendou took one of the small packets he'd brought with him and put it inside the microwave-like device.

“Okay human, ready too see some real futuristic tech magic? Check out the wonders of shrink rays and Flashcook!” He said while hitting some buttons on the side of the like-a-microwave's door. “Coffee coming in three, two-” With a ping, a flash through the glass door of the contraption and an elaborate flourish of Tendou's hands, the little pocket having been replaced with what looked like a take out coffee cup. Wakatoshi was stunned to say the least.

“Ta-daaaaa! One coffee to go! Hope you don't mind it sweetened, it's a separate capsule for the unsweetened one and I don't like it,” He said, pulling out the very real and steaming coffee cup and offering it. Wakatoshi took it with wide eyes, sniffing at the content suspiciously and finding it smelled _exactly_ like barrista coffee. Taking a slow sip, he hummed pleasantly. Just like it's appearance, it tasted just as good as it smelled sans the slight tang that was certainly not unpleasant. Given the events of the last twenty-something hours, he wasn't going to question the fact that a tiny packet just turned into a large latte with definitely more sugar than he'd prefer. Maybe another time.

“This is good, thank you,” He said, meaning it. Sans his time in stasis, it had been months since he'd been on earth and had more than cold, instant coffee from a pre-packaged bag. This was a luxury away from earth. Tendou seemed pleased by his approval, grinning brightly.

“You're very welcome! I got a bit of a taste for it while on earth, this brand is the closest I've found and it's pretty good. You'll love this bit!” He said as he took out his own coffee and put the next, slightly larger sachet in. This time, once the interior of the utensil flashed, two bowls sat inside, one of ramen and one of dipping broth. The door opening again allowed the scent of what smelled very much like real Tsukemen to waft from inside. Wakatoshi's stomach growl audibly and he recalled that he hadn't eaten since waking up from stasis, the cold pouch of miso he'd probably dropped somewhere in the med bad. He took the tray that seemed to pop into existence from the pouch with the two bowls on, even a little disposable fork and a set of chopsticks appeared with the food. He patiently waited for Tendou to prepare his own food if you could really call the literally instant means 'preparation'.

Once they both were sat cross-legged with their meals on their laps, Wakatoshi didn't hesitate making a dint on his food. It looked just like what he'd get back home and tasted even better in comparison too the cold packets he'd lived off for months and he assumed Tendou knew as he wolfed it down. He barely stopping to breath between bites that Tendou chuckled at, minutely aware that the alien was probably watching him. Once he was done he set the tray on the floor, noting that Tendou had already discarded his half unfinished meal but Satori appeared content, leaning back against one of the sleeping chambers with a content sigh. Tendou had fallen into silence and Wakatoshi still had millions of questions, to many to know where too start.

“This is very similar too food from home, thank you. Truely. What's the main difference?” He asked, cringing a little at the small talk-y question. Satori on the other hand, smiled broadly, showing pearly white teeth complete with slightly pointed canines.

“That's a good question actually! I've never actually looked it up, hold on,” He patted his sides, finding a small coin sized piece of metal in a pocket in his shorts and slapped it to the back of his wrist. Out of nowhere, small panels of light appeared around his wrist much like the strap of a wrist watch and a panel of light appeared above it like a screen while Wakatoshi watched in fascination. Tendou swiped at it, tapping on a keyboard Ushijima could see the back of and and characters of probably an alien language formed on the display.

“Hmm, the meat is different but the cows from sector 846 aren't that much different from earth cows. The veggies and ramen wheat come from a planet that has similar soil too earth but that's just what the company site says so I guess that's just them promoting themselves, hmm.” He squinted at the screen, scrolling through rows of text, “Ah! The main difference is sodium! Think you called it 'salt' on earth? This is the only galaxy were you can get sodium and it's toxic to most species so it's hard to come by and obviously they don't put it in, the alternative is a little tangy but close enough. Salt's a bit of a 'delicacy'? I think that's the word? -to my kind but it's usually expensive anywhere near where I live. Ooh! You can get it from one of Jupiter's moons, we should pick some up on our way out of here!” He beamed, tapping the panel once more and it disappeared. Wakatoshi nodded, partially in agreement, partially because the concept of visiting the moon humans have been unable to reach made excitement thrum against his skin.

“Sodium is a necessity too humans, it would be good to collect some before we leave,” He said offhandedly. Tendou nodded.

“Okay, Europa it is. I miss salt, it makes _everything_ taste better.” Wakatoshi nodded, withholding comments on too much of it being unhealthy.

“So, you said you lived on earth?” He asked. Tendou nodded enthusiastically.

“Yup! Crash landed in Sendai and stayed there until some tourists stopped by a few years later and helped me fix up my ship. Landed right behind a lovely little old blind lady's house. She thought I was a foreign orphan or something but she kinda took me in and taught me Japanese for a little while until I looked old enough to get by on my own. Don't think she was entirely there upstairs but she was sweet. I worked at a Seven Eleven!” He proclaimed proudly, a nostalgic smile curling his already curled lips.

“And no one ever questioned you?” Wakatoshi wondered where this lack of a filter had came from. That was definitely impolite. “Sorry...” His apology was lost as Tendou tilted his head back and cackled, not in a way that made Ushijima feel awkward. Instead of answering, Tendou screwed up his face in concentration once he'd recovered from his laughing fit and right before his eyes, Wakatoshi watched as his gray-ish skin turned milky porcelain. His lower pair of his eyes disappeared, blending in with his cheeks and his normally black eyes turned white, a deep red that matched his hair forming irises around black pupils. Wakatoshi blinked several times at the very human looking Tendou sat in front of him, although the second pair of arms and his tail didn't change besides the extra fingers that had morphed on his hands. Aside from that, what could easily pass as a mid twenties human sat in front of him.

“Had to wear baggy hoodies too hide the extra arms and tail but my kind can do the..... 'chameleon' thing? It's pretty handy,” He grinned proudly as his features changed back too normal.”Pretty cool huh?” Wakatoshi could only nod, jaw not wanting too work.

They sat in comfortable silence for a little while, Satori's attention on the bright blue panel hovering above the watch before tapping it and making the panel disappear. He shuffled until he was laying on his front, legs and tail swaying back and fourth above him and propping his chin on two of his palms, the other two crossed against the floor.

“So, what do you want too do? The delivery is due probably later or tomorrow so we should kill some time. Do you have any questions? Must be a lot to find that aliens really do exist huh? Well, you're kind of an alien too me but that's a mute point.” Wakatoshi nodded in agreement, the logic something he hadn't considered but not disagreeing with it. He did have a lot of questions, to many to chose one particular one at the moment. An almost childish side of him didn't want to leave this room, the familiarity of it being one of the few things grounding him and he didn't want a reminder of what had happened while he slept in stasis, shock too fresh to attend to. Nor did he want to ask anything too intrusive to the friendly stranger who's kindness had taken him by surprise.

“How is your injury? It looked quite severe. You mentioned crashing your ship?” Satori's eyes widened before flashing all of his teeth in another one of his impossibly wide smiles.

“Aww, you're so cute being all concerned for me. I'm super! Thanks for asking. It will heal up in a couple of days.” He said, lifting up his shirt and peeling down the bandages. The would still looked unpleasant but it had healed considerably over night, much faster than an injury like that would have healed for a human. Tendou replaced the bandages and dropped his shirt, not before Wakatoshi got a brief flash at defined abdominal muscles. “I was in a two galaxy Dash and went off course too take a shortcut, my ships monitors couldn't pick this station up.. Lesson learnt, wear a seatbelt. I had a 'sight' of inside this ship if I crashed into it and it caught me off guard so I didn't swerve in time.” His bright smile faltered into a pout in an instant, Wakatoshi was having trouble keeping track of his overly expressive nature. “Well, _maybe_ lesson learnt. I've crashed before. It's easy to forget in the rush of a race yanno?” Wakatoshi couldn't imagine not following basic safety protocols regardless of any situation. As a safety officer, it was part of his job.

“That sounds dangerous.” Satori cackled.

“Dashes are dangerous, that's why they're so fun! _And_ why it's so popular and the prize money is so big!” Wakatoshi wasn't satisfied with that.

“That's no excuse to disregard your personal safet-” Satori raised a hand in a silencing motion, a teasing lilt playing in his eyes.

“You don't have to lecture me on safety Wakatoshi, we're not delicate. Plus I have my little trump card so it doesn't happen often, only when I can't sense something coming or get a strong one, which is rare.” Wakatoshi raised a brow.

“Sense? As in your ships sensors?” Satori shook his head, face falling a little.

“Um... not exactly. I'm.... kind of... What's the word. When you can sort of see the future?”

“Clairvoyant?” Wakatoshi offered. Satori shot a finger gun at him with a click of his tongue.

“That! But it isn't 'seeing' exactly? I just get a feeling of what will happen if I do a certain thing ahead of time and know I'm gunna crash if I don't change what I'm doing. Sometimes I get visions like inside this ship but it's rare. Helpful little hack, it's why I'm the famous Red Flash! Reigning champion of dashes across the galaxies!” _ah._ Wakatoshi saw why that would be useful.

“Is it hard if you race against others like yourself? It doesn't seem like much of an advantage if you're not the only one who has this ability,” He asked. Satori's pleasantly waving tail stilled and his face fell. With an unnatural amount of flexibility, he pushed himself too his feet and rolled until he stood at his full height.

“Not exactly. I'm the only one if my race with ' _the gift_ '” He made quotation marks with his finger although there was little enthusiasm as he did so. Ushijima wondered what exactly about that made the aliens expression so sour but he didn't comment. “Anyway, do you want too go for a walk? It's a little stuffy in here. Maybe take me on a tour? Tell me all about this human tech? I never got too see anything like this so it's kinda like a history lesson if that makes sense?” Tendou looked at him hopefully, his seemingly endless enthusiasm returning like it hadn't left. While Wakatoshi didn't particularly want too move, the slight pleading tone was hard to deny.

“Okay.”

* * *

They spent some time touring the ship, Ushijima answering every question Tendou had. and he had a _lot,_ It was oddly comforting. The alien was exuberant and talkative yet mellow and easygoing. While he was keep to explore, he listened intently. With the obvious exception of his appearance, Wakatoshi hadn't met anyone quite like him before. He didn't question when Wakatoshi dismissed the area leading too the stasis pods and, as if knowing, he made a point of enthusing about something else and successfully distracting Wakatoshi from the thoughts that wanted to creep on him. It was.... pleasant. He decided somewhere along their little tour that he did not mind the aliens presence at all, the prospect of travelling with him was growing on him. Yes, he was possibly the last human being left but from what Satori had said, the world Ushijima knew was a whole lot smaller than he could have ever imagined.

As they reached the far end of the last node, the sound of metal colliding with metal echoed through the hallways and the entire station shook. Ushijima immediately grabbed a hand rail, mild panic raising in his chest but Tendou let out a loud groan over the sound of metal shrieking.

“I swear these guys need to find someone else to drive their deliveries, do more damage than they help fix half the time,” Satori grumbled as he turned back towards the central channel they had just came from. Ushijima stumbled after him, considerably less steady than how Tendou easily walked over the shuddering floor.

“Delivery?” He asked. Tendou waved a careless hand over his shoulder.

“It's the delivery company with my ship parts, they _always_ do this. If they put so much as a _scratch_ on my ship someone is going to lose an eye I swear.” Ushijima tried too stay calm as they made their way too the airlock again. Tendou seemed less irate over the _entire_ ship being hit but Wakatoshi rationed that the alien was probably used to more robust vehicles give his comments on the stations build. “Wait here, I'll go out and take the delivery,” Tendou said, as if that were an option given the time it would take Wakatoshi to put a suit on. Tendou strapped himself into the booster pack and helmet once again and left Wakatoshi too try and peak out of one of the tiny windows. It dawned on him that there might have been other aliens outside like Tendou or they could look completely different and that burning curiosity crept over him again. Unfortunately, he couldn't see anything from the angle. but it wasn't long before the tell tale click of the bay doors opening and the should of multiple large metal items scraping the floor let him know Satori was back.

Once Wakatoshi knew the exit doors were closed and the air lock safe too enter, he left himself in, finding Tendou dancing around a number of more black metallic devices with glowing blue markings on like that of the gravity generator.

“They got the order right! And they didn't damage my ship so we're good. A few hours from now and we'll be heading home!” He thrilled as he inspected the parts, the satisfied smile on his face suggesting everything was in order. “Okay, you wanna help me fix Red up or do you want too wait here? Might be a good idea to get an idea of how GalaTec works because it's kinda need-to-know, common knowledge kinda stuff.”

Ushijima wanted too say yes, but since this would probably be the last time he ever saw anything familiar, he wasn't exactly in a rush too leave it all behind. Once again, Tendou seemed too just _understand_. He trotted towards Wakatoshi and gave a sympathetic smile, patting him on the shoulder with two hands. Ushijima wondered if mind reading was a part of his aforementioned 'gift'.

“Hay, it's fine. I don't need the help. We can leave when you're ready 'kay? You probably want to pack up whatever clothes and stuff you have here too. It's a little difficult to come back since it's so far but we can come back.” despite himself, the corner of Ushijima's lips tugged up a fraction, lost for words. Tendou returned a much wider one, understanding clear in his expression and he took the little watch device from his wrist and offered it. “If you double hit the button on the back, it will set the beepers off on my ship, hit it if you need help with anything or like, the oxygen gets too thin or something. I'll come back okay?” Ushijima's small smile widened a tiny but, he nodded.

Ushijima didn't take long to gather his belongings. Some clothes, a few personal trinkets he brought with him including a music player, some family photos and an old watch, a family hairloom passed down from parent too child on his fathers side. He debated weather it was worth bringing the music player with him since charging it might be problematic but if nothing else, it served as a little momento of his home. Items packed up, he reluctantly made his way too the stasis unit, casting a look between his teams pods and knelt in front of them. He didn't have incense, nor was he able to do anything in ways of a funeral but he prayed anyway. He stayed there for some time, maybe an hour had passed, talking too them, telling them about what had happened. It felt foolish but comforting at the same time.

Before he left, he walked too the one open pod, wondering what could have happened too his teammate. If was more or less obvious that they wheren't on the ship from his brief expodition through it when he first woke up but as they'd toured, he could confirm he was not alone. Upon getting closer, he noticed a piece of paper sitting at the bottom. Curious, he picked it up and studied the quickly scrawled message in familiar handwriting.

_Too Ushiwaka._

_If you wake up before I get back, don't worry about me! I woke up and only you were left and I don't even want too think about the fact that the only other human being left in the universe other than myself is you. Just my luck. Okay that was harsh, sorry, this whole situation is just scary._

_Okay don't freak out about this even thought you probably wouldn't but aliens exist. Like, they really exist. There was one exploring the ship like some kind of tourist and he's, angry but he's giving me a lift to a planet we can live on. He was only in a … I can't remember what he called it but it's a small ship and he doesn't have enough room for one extra person. We're going to go back to his planet and we'll come back for you with a bigger ship. I left you in stasis because it would have been a dick move to wake you up and leave you here for possibly weeks. Anyway, don't panic, I'll be back to save your ass soon so hold tight. All our food is obviously expired so eat these for now, they're like little nutrients pills or something._

_Anyway. Just don't panic and hang tight._

_-The greatest astronaut that ever existed._

Wakatoshi chuckled out loud. Partially from the very informal way his team mate had of writing and partially because he knew he was safe. Just knowing there was someone someone he knew still out there somewhere was comforting. Picking up the pen left along side the note, he wrote his own reply on the back of the paper and left it in his own pod, summing up meeting Tendou and letting them know that he was safe and hopefully they would cross paths however unlikely that might be. Feeling a little lighter, He gave one final bow at his team and left too await Tendou's return on the bridge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok I got to the end of checking this over and realized I'm not feeling most of this chapter much at all but idk how to fix it so I'll hopefully get time to come back to give it some reworking. But it's progress aha.....
> 
> also, want to throw a guess at who the other astronaut is? XD There are actually going to be a lot of familiar faces in this (mostly in some kind of alien form), I'll update the tags as I go :3
> 
> Also an absolutely awesome artist is drawing some fanart for this and I'm super excited to see/link it!!! T.T they're amazing and I'm just mush bc someone actually likes this au enough to draw from it T.T

**Author's Note:**

> I have SO many feels about this and I love writing and sketching my lil alien baby boyo so it's nice to finally post this <3
> 
> as usual hmu on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Tendododo1) ^^


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